Daughters of Triton
by ScholarX
Summary: AU retelling of the Little Mermaid. Ariel and her sisters love collecting items from the human world. Contact between the two world is forbidden, forcing the merprincesses to keep their secret hidden from their parents. However, after Ariel's sisters witness her rescue a human from a storm, they realize things are about to change. So begins an adventure that will rock land and sea.
1. Prologue

**December 21, 2018**

 **A/N: AU taking place before the events of the first film. Only major differences is Athena survived the pirate attack, and Ariel's sister also develop a interest in the surface world.**

 **Prologue**

"Good job, Flounder!"

A flash of red hair streaked through the water towards the small yellow and blue fish. The young mermaid, who was just over fifteen years old, smiled brightly. Her line of sight was drawn to a worn out object resting between two rocks on the ocean floor. Upon closer inspection, the object was revealed to be a chest. She ran her hands across the aged wood surface and rusted metal lock. This was way better than what she'd expected her fish friend to find.

"What did I tell ya, a human treasure chest in perfect condition!" Flounder pumped his fist a few times. "What do you think Ariel?"

The merprincess laughed and hugged her fish friend. "It amazing!" Turning her attention back to the chest, she looked at the weathered lock. A quick tug proved it was still strong enough to keep the contends of the chest a secret...for the moment. "What to do, what to do..." Ariel tapped her chin as she pondered the problem.

"So this is where you were."

Ariel and Flounder froze at the sudden voice and spun around in surprise. "Geez Aquata, don't sneak up on us like that!"

The blue tailed and fourth oldest daughter of King Triton rolled her eyes. "You two were too focused on that to even hear me." She looked past Ariel's shoulder at the chest. "What human thing did you find this time?"

The red-head smiled. "A little interested are we, Aquata?"

"Don't get cute with me." She looked to the side and sighed. Truth be told she'd started following Ariel the moment she left the palace. Like the rest of her sisters, she knew the youngest princess liked exploring for human objects. Worried that father would find out, she followed to keep an eye on her. That and other reasons as well. "Okay, maybe just a little."

Ariel laughed and grabbed her older sister's hand, pulling her towards the chest. For the most part, her six sisters had turned a blind eye to her collecting human items. They even showed interest when she'd snuck a super interesting find back to their bedroom. Attina, though cautious about the potential of the King and Queen finding out, caved when her curiosity and love of research and history drawed her to Ariel's trinkets. Then there was Aquata who had been hesitant to accept her younger sister's interest in the surface. It took Ariel showcasing her thingabobs, watchacallits, and thingamagigs before Aquata let her guard down. She had to admit, the human items were like nothing found in the ocean kingdom.

Ariel tugged at the lock again. "It's not going to budge without help." For the most part, human locks were like merpeople locks. Have the right kind of tools and you could pick em. "You wouldn't happen to have any tools on you, Aquata?"

"Sorry." She raised up her empty hands. "We should move it to the grotto. Anyone can see us and it out here."

The red-head nodded and grabbed the handle on one side of the chest while Aquata grabbed the other. The chest wasn't heavy with both of them and the two sister quickly began swimming off with it. While once Ariel's most held secret, the grotto that housed her surface collection, the catfish had been let out the bag when her six sisters followed her one night. Ariel had made a habit of sneaking off past curfew, which hadn't gone unnoticed by them.

Once the grotto was revealed everyone had freaked out. Attina's first reaction was to tell father and mother, which would have been the end of the world for Ariel. While Queen Athena didn't seem to mind humans all that much, King Triton hated their race. The near death of his wife in the lagoon ten years earlier solidified his opposition to contact with the human world. Contact with them was forbidden along with the exploration of ship wrecks. If he found out his youngest daughter was actively collecting surface objects, he would have been furious to say the least.

It took a bombardment of begging and pleading from Ariel before the sisters reluctantly agreed not tell their parents. But there were a couple conditions that had to be met though. Firstly, they made Ariel promises to stop sneaking off past curfew. The next time she got caught, it might be the guards or worst, King Triton himself. Next each princess had her own personal request. They'd been raised to be wary of humans their entire life. This didn't stopped natural born curiosity from forming in due time however.

Attina, being a lover of history, wanted to see any human history books or documents that Ariel found. The art loving Alana wanted to see any human paintings or sculptors that she happened across. Being a helpless romantic, the third oldest Adella desired romance books from the surface. While Aquata really didn't have a preference, she was mostly curious about items that didn't seem to have any ocean counterpart or role. Arista, being a bit of a ditz, wanted any object that looked like fun, be it a rare human instrument, game, or toy. It took Andrina a moment too decide what she wanted. Like Ariel, all of the human trinkets in the grotto looked strange and amazing to her. She decided only time would tell what she wanted to examine from the collection. A joke book would be nice, if humans even told jokes.

From that day forth Ariel was able to explore shipwrecks without fear of her sisters telling. During free time, Ariel and some of her sisters would spend hours rummaging through human books and tinkering with mysterious human treasures. While still not as strong as Ariel's love for surface things, the others were beginning to become much more comfortable with the whole ordeal.

Swimming close to the sandy bottom to avoid unwanted attention, the two sister sped towards the grotto with the treasure in tow. Surely something in the grotto could be used to pick the lock. Oh what kind treasures could the humans have locked away in the chest? Ariel had found chest before that had help jewels, gold, scrolls, and other items she had no name for. A smile spread across the young mermaid's lips. It was like opening a surprise present every time.

In their haste to hide away the chest, neither of the merprincesses noticed a large dark shadow pass over head. The dark oval shaped shadow passed by, heading in the opposite direction. Had they seen it, they would have no doubt know it was the outline of a large ship sailing on the surface.

 **Surface**

 _"I'll tell you a tell of the bottomless blue and it's hey to the starboard heave ho! Look out lad a mermaid be waiting for you in the mysterious fathoms below!"_

A young dark-haired man smiled as the sailors' voices filled the deck. It was a beautiful day out on the high seas, and both the song and salty sea breeze put him in high spirits. Even the sound of his confidant and caretaker Grimsby vomiting over the railing didn't dampen his mood. It had been a few hours since the ship left port and the whole ride had been rather peaceful. Yes a perfect day to be at sea.

"Thanks for listening to my request and bringing me along, Eric." A young man around the same age as Eric walked across the deck and stood beside him. He had clean shaven brown hair with a calm expression. Resting in his hands was a sketch pad and a pen. Looking down, he made a few more strokes as he finished the rough drawing of a dolphin. He gave a slightly disappointed smile. "Only saw a few pods today. Shame. I would have liked to have gotten a sketch of a whole family before we got back."

Pulled himself from the railing, Grimsby coughed and straightened his collar. "Would like to remind Mr. Holland that he should be referring to his Majesty as Prince Eric."

The brown-haired boy stiffened a little, but Eric just laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. "It's alright Grim, you know I don't like formalities. Besides, Darius and me have known each other since we were school children. This is my ship after all and I'd like nothing more than have the kingdom's best oceanographer accompanying me."

Darius relaxed and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Come on Eric don't you think that's stretching it a bit? I'm hardly even close to being the 'best'. I just wanted some more sea animals for my journal." He closed the leather bound sketchbook.

"You're to modest. Almost twenty-one and you've already graduated from the Academy with the highest grades in your field."

"It wasn't easy you know. Many a sleepless nights just to study for papers and tests." Darius winced as if remembering the stress of those nights.

"And you passed them all with flying colors. Come on man, give yourself some credit!"

Grimsby watch the exchange with a exhausted sigh. Prince Eric had picked Darius Holland as the royal oceanographer and marine specialist. Graduating from the Royal Academy with top marks spoke for itself on the young man's intelligence and competence. That combined with their long standing friendship meant that least one position in the kingdom was in the right hands. Grimsby shook his head and let the matter slide. They were childhood friends after all.

"Sorry to disturb you your Majesty." A middle aged and cheerful looking sailor climbed up the steps to the upper deck where the trio stood. "I'd like to report that it seems we be having good weather on the way back to port. A fine strong wind and following breeze, King Triton must be in a friendly type mood."

Confusion crossed the young prince's face. "King Triton?"

Not far away, the old sailor mopping the deck laughed. "Awe! He's the ruler of the Merpeople, lad. I thought every good sailor knew about the Undersea King."

Eric scratched his chin and looked at Darius who just shrugged. Grimsby on the other hand scoffed at the idea of a underwater kingdom. " _Merpeople_. Eric pay no attention to such utter nonsense."

"Nonsense?! That ain't no nonsense!" The old sea salt glared at Grimsby. "I tell down deep below the waves of the ocean they live. I've seen one with my own eyes when I was but a young lad many years ago!"

The old caretaker backed away as the old sailor continued on his rant about the merfolk, the mysterious half human half fish people that are said to inhabit the deep depths of the seas. Chuckling to himself the other sailor who reported dismissed himself, leaving Eric and Darius to watch the old salt put Grimsby through the ringer. It truly was a comical site that made even the usually quiet Darius suppress a laugh.

"Well what do you think?"

Darius raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"Merpeople. Mermaids. Do you believe in them?"

The oceanographer opened his sketchbook and flipped through pages of several marine animals he'd drawn over the last few months. "The ocean is a big place. We haven't even mapped a fraction of it, much less the world below the waves."

"That doesn't answer my question." The prince pressed his friend with the question as if it was a question for a school test back when they were kids. Eric wasn't dumb, his grades being high as expected of the crown prince, but that hadn't stopped him from squeezing questions out of the smartest kid in class when need be.

"To be honest, I don't know."

"You don't know? My great royal oceanographer doesn't have the answer!?" Eric placed a hand to his chest in a over dramatic way, amused grin forming on his face. "I must search for a new one at once!"

Humor was one of the attributes that made Prince Eric so popular with his people. Not only did he possess charisma and a solid sense of humor, he also interacted with the common folk on a daily basis. Such ideas were instilled in him from father, the late king. You weren't fit to rule a people unless you understood their needs and wants he'd told him. The best way of finding out of course was to ask. His personality affected everyone, even his old friend.

"That won't be necessary," he said trying to brush off the jab. "And to answer your question...it not something I've given a whole lot of thought. There's a ton of legends about mermaids from ages ago. Everything from myths to sightings just a few years ago. Whose to say a kingdom under the sea isn't ruled by King Triton?" The sketch pad was snapped shut. If Darius had said that back when he was in the Academy, he would've been laughed right out the door. For a moment it felt good to vent his thoughts.

By the time shipped arrived back at port, Grimsby had finally freed himself of the old salt's stories and had swiftly left the ship the moment it docked. Darius, picking up his bag, shuffled through to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Worn books on marine life, notebooks full of hand written observations, and finally his aged sketchbook that he'd been drawing in for years. As he followed his friend, the prince, off the ship, he couldn't help but run Eric's question through his head over and over again.

 _"Merpeople. Mermaids. Do you believe in them?"_

He hadn't answered truthfully, well not completely. The memory in his mind was foggy, like a dream that shifted out of vision the moment you tried to look at it. Sometimes he wasn't sure if was a memory or a dream that had remained in his head for the last eight years. The only proof that it was indeed real was the first page of his sketchpad.

Being careful to hide it from Eric and Grimsby, Darius cracked open the book and flipped to the very first page. The passing of time had not taken away from the well draw figure resting on the sheet. From the waist up she was a beautiful young girl with silky brown hair tied up in a exotic style. From the waist down however, it was clear this wasn't a normal human girl that had haunted the young man for several years. Where her legs should have been, a shiny blue fish tail took up the lower half of the page...

 **A/N: And that's the prologue to the Daughters of Triton. Hard to believe it's been six years since I joined this site. It's been more than two years since I update a story so please forgive me as I'm a bit out of practice in writing stories. For some reason I just felt the urge to write a Little Mermaid fanfic after rewatching the three movies. It just made me remember how much I loved Disney as a kid.**

 **I'm not sure what my updating schedule will be for this story. At the moment, I'm off for Christmas break before going make to college in January. In order to make longer and better quality chapters, I'm going to write at my own pace. In past stories, I'd try to cram write to meet a deadline and it would result in a rushed or bad chapter all together. To avoid that, I'd like to just go with the flow and write when I feel inspired to do so.**

 **If you made it this far, I'd like to thank you for reading my story. As the title says, Ariel and her sisters will be the main characters of this story. This is the time frame between what would have been Ariel's Beginning and the original film. The other set of main characters will be Eric, Darius, and other OCs that I plan on introduction in the future.**

 **Please review, favorite, follow, and I hope to see you guys and gals next time. Peace!**


	2. Chapter 1

**January 6, 2019**

 **A/N: Please REVIEW, FOLLOW, and FAVORITE! Please enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Destined**

Queen Athena tapped lightly against the door to her daughters' bedroom. "Girls, it's time to wake up." While they were old enough to wake up on their own, there were rare occasion when they slept in. While this somewhat annoyed King Triton, Athena didn't mind going to fetch them. It reminded her of back when they were still just her baby girls, no yet blossoming into beautiful young mermaids.

When no reply came, Queen Athena chuckled to herself and opened the door. She floated in to see all seven of her daughters still sound asleep in their beds. They didn't start to stir until Athena opened the curtains and bright light flooded into the room. "Up up my sea flowers," she said in a sing song voice. "It's getting farther into the morning and you're father is waiting for us a the breakfast table."

There was a collective groan from the seven princesses as Athena went around gently shaking her daughters.

"I need my beauty sleep mother," Alana groaned, raising a arm over he eyes.

"You look fine Alana," Athena countered.

"Mom, I was dreaming of a handsome boy before I woke up," Adella said in a disappointed voice.

"You might meet him today. You won't meet anyone if you stay in bed til noon."

Aquata hid her head under her pillow in protest. "It's still so early."

"It's almost nine in the morning dear. Now hurry up and get ready for the day."

Attina was the first up, followed by Alana, Adella, Aquata, Arista, Andrina, and final Ariel. They went to their mirrors where they combed their hair, brushed their teeth, and applied the little makeup that enhanced their natural beautiful. Athena smiled once her daughters were finished with their morning routine and waved for them to follow her to the dinner hall.

King Triton waited patiently until his daughters filed into the hall, with Athena at the tail, and took their seats at the table. His wife swam over and took her place at his side. "Good morning girls."

"Father," the girls greeted in unison.

Breakfast went by as usual. King Triton talked about the events that were planned for him and Queen Athena. Signing in laws, judging the sea slug contest, holding a benefit at the hospital for undersized guppies, and announcing the opening of the calypso crab carnival to name a few. While Attina listened diligently to her father's every word, Ariel's mind was somewhere else far away. To be more specific, she was thinking of her grotto were the still locked human chest rested; waiting to be opened.

Aquata and her had originally planned to open it the day before, but had run out of time. Not wanting to draw attention with their absence, they made plans to open it the next day with their sisters. Luckily for them, the king and queen had a full schedule which left the princesses free time to disappear to the grotto without worry. Surely they could find some way to pick that rusty lock.

"Ariel are listening? Ariel!"

Startled, Ariel snapped out of her day dream and looked down the table to her father. Everyone was staring at her. Andrina was doing her best to suppress a wave of laughter, while Attina just shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry daddy," Ariel did her best to recover. "What were we talking about?"

"Day dreaming again, Ariel? Well I was just asking your sisters what their plans for today are. Everyone seems to have something to do, but since your mother and I will be busy. I just wanted to make sure you didn't need anything before the day starts."

The young red-head gave a bright smile. "Thank you daddy for asking. Flounder and I were planning on sending the day exploring is all."

The king raised a eyebrow. "Presumably no shipwrecks." He made sure there was clear sternness in his words.

Ariel was careful to not change her expression. "Of course not, we were just planning on exploring some caves past the kelp forest. We go there all the time lately." Not a complete lie. A grotto was technically a cave and they did spend most of their time now. Hopefully he wouldn't inquire any further into it she prayed quietly to herself.

In a stroke of good fortune, King Triton simply nodded. Breakfast wrapped up soon afterwards. The girls said goodbye to their parents and headed back to their room while Athena swam off with her husband to begin the royal duties of the day.

"So we can head there now?" Arista asked once they were back in the bedroom.

"Mother and father will be busy all day, so it's not like anyone will notice us being gone," Alana added. "Everyone made sure to get their lessons for the week out of the way?" The mermaids nodded.

"Let's not waste time, let's go!" Ariel exclaimed. Giggling in excitement, the girls swam out the window and headed towards the kelp forest. A few minutes later they arrived at the hidden grotto. A large boulder hid the doorway and the sisters looked over their shoulder one last time before pushing it aside and making their way inside.

No matter how many times she cam here, Ariel was always left breathless at the size their collection had grown to. She wanted to say her collection, but in reality most of the new surface items had been brought in by a group effort. Thingabobs and watchamacallits lined the caves walls. Human chests took up the floor, filled with gold and silver that she heard humans used for currency. One of her favorite items in the collection had to be the paintings of surface people. She could only guess the men and women were kings, queens, and aristocrats. Noble people that were the complete opposite of the savages her father said they were.

"Ohhhh I can't wait any longer!" Arista was growing impatient and shook Aquata's shoulder. "Can we find something to open up the new chest already?"

"Hold your seahorses, Arista." Alana swam over to one of the selves and picked up a short slim metal rod. The girl's seagull friend, Scuttle, had told them it was called a toothpick and the humans used it to clean their teeth. Most of what Scuttle said about the surface Ariel believed, but even she didn't completely buy that statement. From the pictures, humans faces didn't look much different from merpeople. No way could their teeth require such a hard object.

Alana stuck the metal object into the lock and fiddled around with it. A self satisfied expression appeared on her face once a metallic click was heard. A moment later the lock fell to the floor with a _thump_.

The princesses descended on the chest in frenzy of excitement. What could be in it? Books, gold, or as Alana hoped, human beauty accessories.

Ariel gabbed the sides of the chest and lifted it open as the others floated above and behind her to peer inside.

"What is this?" Ariel reached inside and picked up a round shaped object. The surface was metallic, with writing and drawings etched all across the surface. When she moved her fingers over it, the sphere spun with them. Some kind of metal object held the engraved sphere upright and allowed it to rotate on the axis. Nothing in the grotto collection matched it.

Ariel rested the human thing to aside, while Attina reached in and came up with a bundle of scrolls. She'd found what she wanted.

The other sisters had started to worry that there was nothing of interest to them in the latest find, but were pleasantly surprised when Adella pulled of a gold object. It looked similar to the whatnots that Scuttle said the humans used to tell time. The inside was different though to the others. There was only one of the strange needles as opposed to the normal two. It also seemed to be stuck, not moving from the direction it was pointed in.

Gold wasn't very valuable under the sea. Many sculptors and monuments were made of it, but the currency in Atlantica was the sand dollar. That's why humans coins were worth next to nothing in trading or commerce. That and it was illegal to do so.

'No make-up," Alana said in disappointment.

"Or joke books," Andrina added.

Alana's past time was making her own beauty products and make up. Fashion was another hobby and human clothing inspired her to take some of the influence from it and apply it to her work. She still hoped that she could happen across surface material that could be used in making a new kind of skin rejuvenation.

"I don't know what you're complaining about. This was a great score." After spending hours shifting through old books, Attina had learned to decipher quite a bit of the humans written language. She pointed to one of the scrolls she'd unrolled. "This is clearly a map to something."

Excitement flood the grotto once again.

"Treasure!?" almost all of them yelled.

Attina winced at the sudden barrage. "I have no idea. Doesn't matter anyway." She tapped thee X shaped marking on the paper. "It's on land, on a island somewhere. No way we could get to it even if I knew where to go."

"Ahhh." Ariel and her sister shoulders slumped at the news. They had gotten their hopes up on a potential adventure, only to have it taken away in a instant.

"We could always so looking for more shipwrecks." Ariel offered, trying to brighten the mood.

It seemed to work because most of her sister perked up. All but Attina looked at the youngest with sudden interest.

"You have a particular one in mind?" Aquata asked.

Ariel nodded. "There's one on the edge of Swordfish Gulch on the edge of the kingdom. I overheard some old mermen talking about it a while back in a shop. Apparently, they saw it when they were coming back from a mining trip. Said it looked like it'd been there for a long time."

"Oh yes yes yes yes!" the blonde most energetic one swam around in circle overhead. "There's always a chance of finding a human music instrument. I haven't found anything like that in forever, but you never know." She put a finger to her chin in thought. "Do humans have a saxophone like instrument. I've only found horns and broken drums lately.

"We can find out when we get there." Ariel swam up between Arista and started guiding her towards the hidden entrance. "Anyone else want to come along?" To her surprise, all but Attina followed suit. The heir to the throne was busy looking through the remaining five scrolls.

"Thanks," she replied "But I'm going to see what I can make out of these papers. There's the map, charts, and a long letter that's going to take ages to translate." She waved off her younger sisters like their mother did. "Go and see what you can find, but bring me back any scrolls and books if you happen to find any. Be back before dark."

After they promised, the six sisters promptly left towards Swordfish Gulch, but not before resealing the grotto. Time was wasting and the swim wouldn't be short.

* * *

"Ah man, that really hits the spot."

Prince Eric slammed the empty tankard down on the table, a little bit of ale foam still on his upper lip. Across from him, Darius was having a bit more trouble finishing his. Neither drank often, but somehow Eric had developed the talent of downing his drinks much quicker then the scholar

"You guys haven't changed since the Academy."

Joining Eric and Darius at the round bar table were two men around the same age as them. The taller of the two, who had blonde hair cut in a undercut style, wore a military jacket and black jeans. On his breast pocket, was the iron cross crest of the Crown's Guard, the elite military order responsible for the protection of the royal family. The boy across the table from him was slightly shorter and wore much more casual clothing. His brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and there was a hint of mischief in his eyes, as opposed to the more intimidating soldier. Both had half empty tankards in front of them.

Eric grinned at the one who had spoken; the mischievous one. "I wouldn't say that, Allister. I like to think that everyday I grow little by little." He nudged the uniformed one. "Back me up, Nathaniel."

"Of sure. Little by little every day, at the pace of a glacier." Despite his serious air, a smile played at Nathaniel lips. "I hope his _Majesty_ matures in time for his coronation."

"With all the princesses he's been turning down, that day may not happen in our life time," Allister snickered.

"Oh ha ha," Prince Eric replied in a overly sarcastic voice, his tankard swinging in his fingers. "Knock it off with that "majesty" stuff, Nat. I'm in no hurry. Grimsby and the Dukes got the kingdom under control and I get to waste time with you idiots. Besides, I'll get married when the right girl comes around. Til then, the bachelor life is for me."

"Here here," Allister toasted before downing the last of his ale.

Like Darius, Eric had known Allister and Nathaniel since they were children. Both had come from higher houses and both went with the two to the Academy. Following after their fathers, Nathaniel had joined the Crown's Guard as expected of his family, while Allister took after his father and joined the Royal Navy. Eric liked to joke that the four of them had the best introductory titles. The scholar, the soldier, the sailor, and the prince. Darius pointed out that it sounded like the most incompatible and volatile group in history. That remained to be seen.

"Can we get on with business?" Nathaniel groaned, stretching his arms over his head. "As fun as it is to watch you guys drink yourself under that table, I thought you had something to announce." He stole a glance at Allister, who nodded.

"Patience friend patience. I was just about to bring it up actually."

"Color me surprised," Darius slipped in.

"Anyway!" Allister cleared his throat as if he was about to make a important speech. "As you all know, someone's 18th birthday is today." All eyes locked on to the prince. Noticing, he suddenly looked a little worried.

"Okay what did you plan," he asked with a deadpan expression.

"Relax Eric. I had a talk with Grimsby. He agreed with me and thought a party out at sea would be a good way to celebrate your birthday."

Everyone knew about Prince Eric's love for the sea. If he'd not been born into royalty, he would've probably spent all his time sailing on the high seas. Three years earlier, his late father had gifted him with his very own ship. It was the one Darius and him had rode in the day before and was also used for the Prince's diplomatic trips to other countries.

"A party out at sea with the crew? I'm on board for it. How about you guys?" he asked Darius and Nathaniel.

"You know I like sailing. Having a celebration at sea sounds a lot more appealing then some formal ball." The oceanographer had no complaints.

"As a member of the Crown's Guard and your friend, of course I have to go whether I wanted to or no." That was Nat's way of saying he wanted to go.

Allister rubbed his hands together with a grin that threatened to crack his face. "Well it's settle then. I'll tell the boys to prepare for a royal voyage at dusk." He raised his cup and called to the bartender. "Another round for his Highness on me!" Allister infectious energy and charisma spread around the bar, causing everyone to raise their mugs in celebration.

In the middle of the ruckus, Darius leaned over and whispered in Eric's ear. "Best not let him drink to much. He'll most likely want to steer the ship..."

* * *

Several hours later, that the six merprincesse made the long swim back home. The mood had been several damped by the events that had unfolded over the course of the day. The excitement of exploring a sunken ship had the girls more than willing to swim all the way to Swordfish Gulch. Sadly, what they had found had even the most level headed Alana slightly ticked.

"Shipwreck," Andrina mumbled under her breath. "You could've fooled me. That messy bundle of old wood barely resembled a ship." The merman had been right about a wreck at the edge of the gulch. What they didn't add was the fact that wreck was...well a total wreck. The mass of rotting wood had been flatted leaving nothing intact, nothing to scavenge. In the end, the girls had made the long swim for nothing.

"I sorry it's my fault we wasted the entire day," Ariel apologized. Hearing her glum voice made the others feel bad about their own gloominess. It wasn't her fault the miners hadn't elaborated on the state of the ship. It was just one of the risks of listening to second hand information.

"Don't feel bad Ariel," Arista did her best to lift the girl's blame off her shoulders. "We all know you meant for this to be a fun adventure. So what if it didn't turn out the way we expected." Her sisters nodded in agreement. The last thing they wanted was for Ariel to feel responsible.

Feeling a little better, Ariel hugged Arista. "I'll make up it up to you guys. Next time I won't take the words of old mermen when looking for ships," she joked. "Instead of chasing rumors, I'll find them myself."

"Not if I find one first," Aquata exclaimed.

With the mood much lighter, the swim didn't feel as daunting and the sisters found themselves reverting back into their usual routine of joking and gossiping. The sun was beginning to dim overhead and they were still about a hour from reaching home.

Had Ariel's eyes not been tilted up, admiring the the fading light shining through the water, she would not have noticed the large shadow from the previous day passing over. The recognizable outline of a ship caused Ariel to stare, her mouth opened in awe. Fate must have taken pity on the girls and this was it's way of compensating for the day.

"Girls!" She instantly pointed to the ship's shadow that had gone unnoticed by the rest. "There's a ship up there. An actual floating ship!" The rest halted and looked to where Ariel was pointing. A mixture of surprise and uncertainty passed over the faces of her sisters.

"Whoa that's really close," Adella said. The ships was just about to pass directly above them, the last rays of light were being bloated out by it's size.

Concern slipped into Arista's voice. "I haven't been this close to a ship that wasn't sunken. Not since the lagoon incident."

Like a moth to a flame, Ariel slowly began to make her way towards the ship.

"What are you doing?!" Aquata grabbed Ariel's wrist before she could make it any farther. "Have you lost your mind?"

The red-head tried to tug out of her grip. "What's the matter? I was just going to get a closer look," she protested.

"This isn't a sunk and abandoned ship, Ariel! There are humans on board that think," Alana shouted.

Tugging free from Aquata's iron grip, Ariel shot them a smile. "What are you scaredy catfish?" Seeing her sister's stunned look, Ariel turned and swam towards the surface at full speed before she could hear a reply.

Well they couldn't just leave her. Attina wasn't there to be the mom and keep an eye on the rebellious red-head. Reluctantly, the rest swam after her hoping to catch up before she broke the surface and do something stupid.

The fresh air felt wonderful when Ariel came up. It had been ages since she'd come to the surface and the feeling of air in her lungs was refreshing. All around, her sisters popped up, carefully looking around before fully revealing themselves. The ship was now to there side, slow sailing on at a leisurely pace. The sound of laughter and music could be heard from the deck. Were the humans celebrating?

"Jumping jellyfish." Andrina breathed.

The massive galleon was so close and the human's music was so different to what they'd heard before. The exotic sound was pleasing to the ear. Against their better judgement, they wanted to swim closer.

Of course, Ariel took the initiative and was the first to swim to the ship's side and begin climbing. If there parents or Attina had saw her they would've had a heart attack. This was escalating very quickly. It was one thing to explore wrecks. Climbing onto a human ship was a whole nother level.

"Ariel," Aquata called, being careful to keep her voice low.

"Everything is going to be okay," Ariel reassured her sister. "As long as we keep our heads down, they won't see us. Come on. I know you want to look as badly as I do. To listen to human music in person."

Seeing no way out of it, the others slowly swam up and climbed up to where Ariel was already peeking through a hole at the deck. They shifted to make room for each other, making sure to keep their heads down and in the shadows. Finally, six pairs of eyes were looking at the party unfolding before them. There wasn't a single merprincess that wasn't awestruck.

On board, the deck was live with the energy of a celebration. Sailors were dancing and playing musical instruments, keeping a natural rhythm with one another. Others were filling mugs with a unfamiliar liquid and passing it to their fellow sailor. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, not a care in the world. Even the odd looking white hairy animal that ran around between the men. It was a regular ball of energy.

"So close," Arista whispered. "I still can't picture what it's like to move around on two legs. Must feel strange." The way the sailors shuffled their feet and bounced around on their legs was indeed odd to them. Legs were so different from a tail and fins.

"Looks like all of them are a lot older then us," Alana observed. Indeed, all the sailors who were making merry at the moment looked to be middle aged or old men That was assuming humans aged at the same rate that merpeople did.

"Not true Alana," whispered Adella. There was excitement in her voice and familiar twinkle in her eye. "Look at the group over on the side." Everyone's gaze turned in the direction Adella was gawking.

The group consisted of four young men who appeared to be around the same age as the girls. In contrast to the rest of the crew, these boys were sitting and watching the revelry. Two of them, a brown haired one with clean cut hair and one with a ponytail, were downing the unknown liquid from tankards. The other two watched in amusement as the clean cut one struggled to keep pace in downing his beverage. When it was clear he lost, the mischievous one gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder. The loser didn't seemed to be to broken up over the contest. The remaining blonde and dark hair ones exchanged a few words before the blonde one went to get another refill. In the mean time, handsome black haired man pulled out a device from behind him, a thing Ariel remembered Scuttle call a "snarfblatt"; a musical instrument. He raised it to his lips and relaxing notes joined the air, attract the furry animal who came running over to the boy. The creature was rewarded with an affectionate pat on the head.

"They're so cute," cooed Adella. She started raising her head to get a better look only to have Andrina pull her back.

"Easy sister, chill out. Just because they're nice on the eyes doesn't mean you can go talk to them. They are humans after all."

"I know that." The third oldest princess' face gradually turning beet red. The hopeless romantic of the seven had gotten a little carried away.

With all the focus Adella had drawn to her self, Andrina, Alana, and Arista failed to note the change in their other two sisters.

In Ariel's eyes, a look not unlike Adella's was focused on the tall and dark one. _'He's beautiful.'_ Her thoughts were clouded by the perfect looking man. She'd seen many humans over the course of her adventures, but none drew her in like him. Her heart skipped a beat. Her stomach felt jittery. Who was he?

An equally strong reaction was flooding Aquata next to her. While Ariel was mesmerized by the dark haired boy, Aquata's brown eyes had come to rest on the quiet brown haired one. In contrast to her sister, who's heart was beeping ninety to nothing, Aquata didn't know exactly what she felt. Something about the the boy's appearance made her feel strange. Sure he was good looking, _really_ good looking, like his friends, but what she was feeling wasn't like the crushes she'd had in school. It was something more akin to a memory that was trying to craw to the surface. Alien yet at the same time oddly comforting. _'Have I seen him before? No...that's impossible...isn't it?'_

The human boys continue conversing among themselves, ignorant to the chatter and flood of emotions they were causing in their observers. As few moments later, a seagull flew up behind the girls.

"Hey there sweeties. Quite a show ain't it?!"

Startled, the princess clamped a hand over each others mouths to keep from yelling. They'd been way to absorbed in watching the humans, they'd almost forgotten they were adrift on the side of a galleon.

Ariel tore her eyes from the man and turned to the seagull with a finger to her lips shhhing. "Scuttle be quiet. They'll hear you," she hissed.

Scuttle landed on the side deck next to them. He looked at the deck of sailors and nodded in understanding. "Oh I gotcha I gotcha. We're going undercover. Incognito. We're out to discover!" he declared. Andrina grabbed his beak, promptly shutting him up.

While Andrina was restraining Scuttle, a lanky and elder gentleman walking towards the center of the ship and waved his arms to get the crew's attention. "Silence, silence please." Little by little the music and talking died down as everyone's attention went to the elder man. Satisfied, he continued. "It is my honor and privilege to speak at his highness Prince Eric's birthday celebration." The old man gave a short bow before the dark haired lad. The crew joined by releasing a wave of woos, claps, and salutes to the prince.

 _'A prince!?'_ all the mermaids internally screamed. Ariel almost felt like fainting on the spot. A prince. Not only was he unearthly handsome, but a prince to boot! She felt her heart doing flips. The surface world was only getting better.

The old man continued. "In honor of his 18th birthday, I would like to reveal his Majesty's very expensive very large birthday present." He gestured to the colossal item resting under a cover in the corner of the deck.

"Ah Grimsby, you old beanpole you shouldn't of have." Prince Eric gave his confident a playful slap on the back that startled him.

Recomposing himself, the grim man's sober look melted into a light smile. "I know." He signaled for one of the crewmen to remove the tarp. "Happy Birthday Eric."

The crewman pulled off the tarp to reveal a marble statue of Eric in a heroic posture, complete with a sword and shield. There was a round of impressed whistle from the crowd. However, Eric barely managed to hide grimaced expression at the odd looking statue. Even the furry animal bared his teeth and growled at it.

Eric's friends, on the other hand, had to fight like crazy to keep from falling over in laughter. The hunk of marble was a total over exaggerating. It looked like someone had tried to make the prince look super regal and this had been the result. Who'd approved of it?

"Gee Grim." Eric got up and examined the statue closer, trying to appear polite. He rubbed his neck while trying to think of the right words. "It's...it's really something."

Allister snorted. There were tears in his eyes even as Nathaniel elbowed his sides.

Somehow Grimsby didn't notice. "Yes I commissioned it my self. Though I had hoped it would be a _wedding_ present." He made sure to put special emphasis on wedding.

"Come on Grim, don't start. You're not still sore cause I didn't fall for the princess of Glowerhaven?"

Grimsby sighed. "It's not just me Eric. The entire kingdom wants to make sure you settle down with the right girl."

Back on the side of the ship Ariel wanted to squeal. So he was still _single_.

"I have to agree with Sir Grimsby," Nathaniel joined the conversation. "I don't see why you didn't fall for her. She was a pretty lass."

"Yeah, but she was awfully boring in conversation."

"So what are you going to do," Darius asked from the railing. "Keep sailing from kingdom to kingdom til you find the perfect girl?"

"If that's what it comes to then yes."

He strolled over to the railing where the mermaids were hiding and jumped on top. The girls ducked down, pressing themselves against the side in an attempt to hide. Andrina made sure to keep a solid grip on Scuttle's beak.

"Oh, I have no doubt she's out there somewhere..." He knelt on the railing and looked out at the dark waves. Had he looked down, he might've seen six beautiful mermaids right under his nose. "I just...haven't found here yet."

Ariel listened intently, noticing the sadness in his voice at the end. Under different circumstances she would've revealed herself and said something to comfort him. Alas that wasn't possible.

"You know," Allister paced the deck while juggling a gold coin between his finger as he did. "The boys and I don't mind going on your wild sea journey to find the perfect one. On the high seas, travelling from country to country in search of the future queen!" He tossed the coin up and caught it in his other hand. His signature grin bright as ever. "Sounds like a good way to get some sailing practice in."

"Appreciate it friend. Once I found her I'll know. It'll hit me...like lightning."

Less then half a moment after he said that, a bolt of lighting thundered in the distant. The light comfortable breeze from before was quickly picking up in speed. The mermaids could see dark ominous clouds rolling in with the lighting becoming louder and more frequent. The crew members gave concerned glances at each other as the weather seemed to grown worse by the second.

"Hurricane a coming!" The lookout from the crow's nest hollered down. "Batten down the hatches!"

The deck became chaotic. Sailors scattered to their posts to prepare for the incoming storm. Sails were tied down and equipment was moved below deck.

Back outside the ship, the merprinceses were left to watch as the crew scrambled to prepare for the waves that were already sweeping the deck...

 **To Be Continued**

* * *

 **A/N: And that is chapter 2. Man this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be. I planned on spreading it out over a week, but ended up writing it in three days. Finding a stopping point was hard. Can't help but feel that my writing skills have diminished in my long absence. Hopefully it'll pass and I'll fill more confident with feedback from you guys. I tried to edit for as many mistakes before posting chapter 2.**

 **Also I started another Little Mermaid story called _Protector of the Deep._ Go check it out!**

 **Well we've met two more of my OC's. Eric's friends Allister and Nathaniel, who I plan on developing more as the story progresses. I'm still trying to get the setting straight and get character introduction out of the way. I want my characters to be unique and not just different looking carbon clones of each other.**

 **Ariel may still be the main character of this story, but I plan on giving all the sisters spotlight and a role where we can see them grow. It is called the Daughters of Triton after all.**

 **Once again thanks for all the support. Please don't forget to REVIEW, FOLLOW, and FAVORITE. I will see you all next time. Later.**


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